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Climate change ecology

Tropical languor

Nature Geoscience volume 8, pages 4–5 (2015)Cite this article

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Carbon dioxide can stimulate photosynthesis in trees and increase their growth rates. A study of tree rings from three seasonal tropical forests shows no evidence of faster growth during 150 years of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Carbon dioxide plays an essential role as the primary substrate in photosynthesis. Therefore, increasing the CO2 concentration in the air surrounding a tree generally results in higher photosynthesis rates3. This CO2 fertilization can also promote the transport of sugars to other organs, such as tree stems, with the expected outcome that the stem, as well as the whole tree, will grow more quickly.

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Affiliations

  1. Lucas A. Cernusak is in the College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4879, Australia

    Lucas A. Cernusak

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  1. Lucas A. Cernusak
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Correspondence to Lucas A. Cernusak.

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Cernusak, L. Tropical languor. Nature Geosci 8, 4–5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2328

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